


The Shield That Wasn't Meant To Go Down

by aceofhearts88



Series: STRIKE Team Alpha Series [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Clint Barton & Tony Stark Friendship, Where Was Clint Barton During Captain America 2?, mentions of Brock Rumlow - Freeform, mentions of Bucky Barnes - Freeform, mentions of Sharon Carter - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-16
Updated: 2015-09-16
Packaged: 2018-04-21 02:18:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4811183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aceofhearts88/pseuds/aceofhearts88
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As the world tries to settle after the shocking events and reveals in DC, Tony Stark and Clint Barton find themselves with a small, but not unimportant mission.</p><p> </p><p>Set in the same settings as "Walking it off", can be read without knowing the fic, but some references might be confusing. If you like the fic, this answers some questions and also shows some of what I had Steve, Clint and Tony mention in Chapter 4, Part 1.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Shield That Wasn't Meant To Go Down

**Author's Note:**

> Set in the universe of my fic "Walking it off", this oneshot answers on where Tony and Clint were during the events of Cap2, and especially what they were doing in the days after Shield went down.

“You sure, you're up for this, Tweety?”, Tony asked for what felt like the seventh time in the last two hours as Happy drove the car down the highway towards Washington, and he sounded even ridiculous and quite overbearing to his own ears. But could someone really blame him? 

After what had transpired over the course of the last what...only five days, really...even someone like Tony Stark was allowed to be a little out of character. He didn't even want to think too long over it, would only give him hives and that damn well hated anxiety attack again.

Shield had been fucking Hydra. Fury dead and then not dead but a fig fat liar and asshole extraordinaire. Romanov had thrown every secret wide in the open. Steve and his new winged friend had crashed three helicarriers into the Triskelion. Bucky Barnes, freaking Bucky Barnes was alive and some mind-wiped weapon, having been sent to kill Natasha and Steve. The American WSC member had been Hydra's new leader. The freaking Strike Team who had worked alongside Steve had been Hydra. Apparently nearly everyone had been freaking Hydra.

Hydra. Hydra. Hydra.

And Steve had nearly died.

The only reason he hadn't died was because someone, oh who was he kidding, freaking Bucky Barnes had pulled him out of the freaking river. Bucky Barnes alive. Holy Shit.

Everything after seeing the burning and exploding helicarriers flying over DC, and his private servers and Jarvis being flooded with data files a really really desperate Black Widow had sent his way, was still a little blurry. Tony had been completely frozen for about one hour, completely cathartic, and had only proceeded to switch onto full power alert when Natasha's mess of files had included a desperate call to find the rest of the team.

Which had really translated into find the purple little bird for Bruce had been sitting right next to him in the workshop, breathing into a paperbag, and well, Thor had not come back yet and even if he yet, Tony had doubted an Asgardian god would have been in trouble with Hydra.

So he had exploded into a whirlwind of action, had ordered Jarvis to shift through the package of data from Natasha, told him to find even the smallest trace of their absent archer and had then pushed Bruce in front of the bonsai plants in his lab to get him to calm down before flying from the basement up into the penthouse, making some more necessary calls in the elevator.

Two hours later, Pepper and her mother – what a great timing for a visit, woman, seriously – were packed into the jet on their way to Tony's house on Fiji, Bruce had calmed down enough to try and get in touch with Natasha or Maria Hill and Tony was fishing through the first little pieces of information on Barton's location that Jarvis had found for him.

It was then that the news coverage, more precise, Fox News and their helicopter, had aired the pictures of Captain America's motionless body laying on the shore of the Potomac river not far from the burning ruins of the Triskelion. Bruce and him, they had both felt the ice cold panic settle into their bones and as the news reporter already jumped over each other in declaring America's hero for dead, Bruce had finally gotten through to Natasha.

And god, that had been thirty seconds that had taken years out of Tony's life expectancy, not that the truth Hill then told them was really any better, but at least Steve was alive and was showing a remarkable good chance to pull through. But Tony wasn't a perfect crisis manager for nothing, with the panic over Steve's health settled into his bones and the entire shock over Shield having been fucking Hydra slamming over his head like an icy shower, he had only gotten more calm and focused.

He had left Bruce to talk to Hill and had instead taken his own phone to call Natasha, letting her help in finding a sign of Barton in the mess of Shield files and encrypted Hydra data, while the doctors at the hospital patched her up. 

Three hours later, he had just gotten off the phone with the retirement home in downtown DC and was in the process of texting the one Shield agent he knew not to be Hydra alongside Barton and Romanov...and maybe Hill, probably Hill, yeah Hill was okay... and at the same time using Jarvis to make endless calls towards the one cell number that he just needed to be picked up because she couldn't have been a traitor, no matter how many times it had been mentioned that the whole Strike unit had been Hydra.

So yeah, busy with two phones in his hands, and one ear on Jarvis and one eye on Bruce, when Hill had called again to say that the last surgery had been well and Steve was not critical any longer. Talk about a relieved breakdown.

The next day came after not really any sleep, but with it came the news of Steve's improved recovery and a first short phone call with his winged buddy Sam who took the order to remain at his side under all circumstances with an impressive eagerness despite the hard edge to Tony's voice and added that he hadn't had any other plans anyway. Despite somehow trusting the guy to have Steve's back for the moment, Tony sent half the renewed Iron League squad out to guard the hospital anyway. Better safe than sorry, huh.

Romanov had disappeared from said hospital but Bruce told him to leave her be and that she had told him that she needed to disappear for some days, that Tony should focus on finding Barton, which Tony then did with almost every ounce of his mental capacity.

Eight hours later, because even he couldn't suddenly develop magical powers or the ability for beaming himself to random places, the Iron Man suit was powering towards Africa of all places, or more precise a small village in the northern region of Mali with Bruce keeping him updated on Steve and DC in one ear and Jarvis laying out the terrain for him on the other.

He found Clint Barton in a rundown shag on the furthest edge of the mountain village, no sign of any people anywhere anymore, half dehydrated and barely conscious, but still lucid enough to put up quite a fight while Tony had only tried to get him out of the chains. One fired up repulsor later, Barton was not only free but also pliant and had recognized the Iron Man suit despite one eye nearly swollen shut.

The following flight had been highly amusing and probably also deeply disturbing, for Clint had had no idea on what had happened and was completely freaked out of his already too exhausted and injured mind while Tony flew with him towards the jet Jarvis had deployed in their direction. And then on the flight back to New York, Tony patching him up with Bruce's help via Skype call, Clint had demanded to know more details and Tony had provided that, news videos and a phone, in case master assassin number two was itching to call his redhaired twin. 

Clint had not called Natasha, he would have probably if he hadn't passed out on Tony halfway through bandaging his roughed up ankle, and what a joy that had been for an already hot wired Tony Stark. 

And back at the tower, when they had stumbled down into the workshop, Tony supporting Clint, now where it was better to lay low as an Avenger, towards the couch, Bruce had rushed in from his lab, sweatshirt flying and tablet already pushed towards them before Clint was even sitting, and he had proceeded to frantically tap away on it until some horrible footage from a cellphone popped up.

Footage from the fight on the highway that hadn't reached the news yet and that he had promised Jarvis had already deleted to make sure it wouldn't. Because zoomed in, it showed the face of the metal armed assassin who had come after their friends, frozen on the street as bewildered eyes stared at Steve.

The bewildered blue eyes of a ghost.

Blue eyes belonging to Bucky Barnes.

And yes, there had been a limit to what Tony had been able to swallow and apparently Barton had found his tipping point as well, and the rest of the evening had them sitting up in the penthouse, getting completely wasted while Bruce played nursemaid and Jarvis kept the whole operation running.

And hadn't that felt good.

And hadn't that also brought up the best plan on how to continue post-Hydra reveal when on the next morning, entirely hungover, Tony had trudged down into the workshop to demand an update from Jarvis and the only thing his slowed up brain had managed to come up with upon seeing a whole new row of 'Is Captain America dead?' news features with Steve's lifeless body slumped into the river bank was to question where the shield was.

Which brought them back to the present, five days after Hydra-gate and three days after Tony had fished Clint out of Africa as they sat in the back of the limousine on the way to DC. Clint looked up from where he had been just as busy texting as Tony had been clicking away on his tablet, he was still quite banged up but had resolutely refused to be left behind in the tower as Tony had announced that he was going to Washington.

“I'm fine, Stark, and seriously, if I sit down even for a second without something to do I'm going to go insane. I need to do something unless even a tiny part of this is making sense to me.”, his eyes had looked as frantic as he had sounded and Tony had reached over to squeeze his shoulder once, quite familiar with that emotion by now.

“Heard back from Romanov?”, he had gone on, looking down again at his email inbox, Barton hummed before answering, tapping against the hearing aids again that Tony had cooked up over night quickly when the former agent (he was really set on that former) had told him his were not only damaged but also issued by Shield. And that was a big no-no now.

“She's okay. Went under the radar of everything, laying real low. She's gonna be fine, she'll come back when she is needed and then she'll disappear again until she feels ready. Don't worry about her.”, a small pause had given Tony away before he had even been able to give his reply.  
“Who says I worry about her?”, and Clint had simply looked at him until Tony had grimaced, “Fine, you're right, satisfied? Jarvis is working overtime on overtime to get as much contained as possible from what she leaked, but it's the internet, things are moving too fast to catch everything.”, Clint had nodded gratefully and then gone back to focus on his phone.

He was still completely refusing to talk about what had happened in Africa or why he had even been there when Fury himself had had no idea of a mission in that region, but Tony didn't press it, understanding very well that the archer had just lost the ground under his feet and was grasping onto every hold he could get without having to look down.

Outside the highway brought them closer and closer to their capital and with it to the wreckage of the agency who had been the enemy all along, the enemy of a time long thought over. Shield had been freaking Hydra, ghosts were real and apparently war heroes long thought dead. Captain America's right hand, Steve Roger's best buddy. 

Suddenly aliens seemed more logical.

He must have spoken his thoughts out loud, because Clint snorted and then laughed and suddenly both of them couldn't stop, and they had nearly laughed hysterically for half an hour, because that was obviously the correct reaction when your whole safety net disappeared into dust and the people who had once had your back were now holding a gun to your temple.

Tony's private phone had ended the whole act when it rang up with an old jazzy song that had Tony scrambling around the seats until he had found it.  
“I need to take this, okay if I set it on speaker?”, ignoring the befuddled look in blue eyes Tony accepted the call when Clint nodded, setting the phone on one thigh and the tablet on the other, “Hey, you....”, but he got immediately interrupted.

“Why is your robot floating outside my windows? For five days already, and I can see that it is yours, your name is written all over it, like some shiny flag. I thought superheroes are supposed to be subtle. And there is another one on the corridor and the nurses are all terrified. And they will not let me watch TV or switch on the radio. Everybody keeps on talking in hushed whispers. What have you done now, Anthony?”, well someone was clearly in a good mood and clear-headed, Tony groaned and closed his eyes while Clint grinned, still looking confused, “And why is Sharon not picking up my calls? And why is everyone here suddenly asking me if I noticed something strange every five minutes? Or if someone is watching me? I swear, Anthony, if you have played hide and seek with terrorists again, I'm gonna find you myself and lay you over my knee again.”, someone was really on fire apparently, maybe they should let her loose on Hydra.

She at least freaking knew what to expect.

“Listen, Peg.....”, he tried to intervene, noting out of the corner of his eyes how Clint suddenly twitched and then let his mouth drop open, apparently having caught onto whom he was talking to.  
“It's still Aunt Peggy to you, Anthony. You might be a superhero now, but I haven't forgotten where you come from.”, seriously, never piss that woman off, never, Tony knew from several phone calls that even Steve felt like a little boy again when she had gotten a go at him for doing something stupid, “Now, what did you do, Tonio?”, came hissed through the line and Tony twitched.

“Okay, first of all, give me a chance to speak, Pe...Aunt Peggy.”, he had grudgingly corrected in the end even if Barton turned his gaping into a really dangerous smirk that showed way too much amusement, “And I didn't do anything, try your other boy.”, it took a moment, shorter than he had expected though, until Peggy followed him.  
“Steve? What did he do now?”, well for once, he had not died, which was why Tony had immediately alerted the staff at the nursing home to keep all kinds of media from Peggy until further notice from him or Sharon Carter. 

The last thing they needed now was to have Peggy Carter getting even a glimpse of the news.

“He...got in a little bit of trouble.”, he would pay for it, bitterly, so bitterly the moment she did somehow find out what had happened, and she would, Steve was incapable of lying to her, “But he's got a team again, remember? I told you about the Avengers and Sharon did as well, we got his back. It's gonna be okay.”, wow, that had actually hurt saying out loud, and wasn't that a brilliant proof of how fucked up things were.

Even Clint was grimacing. And Clint Barton had “fucked up” written into his hobbies probably.

“I still do not understand why this robot is necessary.”, yes of course not, Tony sighed upon her repeated question, and dragged a hand down his face, god he needed a vacation, but he couldn't, because Shield had been freaking Hydra. And Steve had nearly died.  
“Listen, I'm on my way to DC right now, should be there in about an hour. Why don't I swing by and try to explain some?”, this would be easier face to face, and if she had gotten his last message, Sharon would be on the way as well already.

“Some? You are going to explain everything, Anthony Edward Stark.”, and click went the call, so Tony was left grumbling at a black screen for a moment.  
“Damn, she is exactly like Fury described her.”, Clint brought him out of his thoughts and Tony groaned, pocketing his phone and reaching for the tablet again.  
“God, you have no idea. Now, let's see what we still need before we go and play find-the-frisbee-in-a-river-bed-full-of-wreckage in the night.”

“Oh no.”, Clint interrupted quickly, shoving his own phone away and shifting around until he was all up in Tony's personal space, “Don't even think I'm not interrogate you about Aunt Peggy now, Tonio.”

\--

Their paths parted for some hours once they arrived in Washington, Clint had his own agendas to run down while Tony met up with the former and the current Agent Carter and tried to explain to the older one that 'hey, remember the crazy Nazi goons from the war? Guess who is back with a bang?'.

Still rattled by everything and unable to keep away, Clint had pulled up the hood of the sweatshirt he was wearing (grabbed from the bottom of Tony's closet to make it even less likely that someone would recognize him) and pulled out a pair of sunglasses Tony had borrowed him and then he had blended into the crowd standing at the Triskelion ruins, where all kinds of agencies and military forces were rushing around like bees now.

Colonel Rhodes standing right among them, making Clint relieved that at least nothing would be kept secret from the Avengers like this. 

It hadn't really sunken until then, while he had stood staring at the wreckage of what he had worked for, killed for, all this time without knowing what really had grown right under their noses. He was still ignoring most parts of this big fuck up, mostly to make sure his mind wouldn't go to crazytown anytime soon. Hydra, jesus christ. Bucky Barnes, holy shit. Pierce was Hydra...actually not that big of a shocker, but still a surprise. Strike teams were Hydra, well there was the big avalanche threatening to put him under if he thought about it too long.

Most of those guys had been his friends, colleagues, he had fought alongside them. He had trusted them. 

And the girls...he was giving everything in repression tactics to keep himself from thinking about the endless possibilities of what could have happened. They were fine, they had gone off the grid and were now waiting for things to blow over a little until they returned home. It was okay.

When his phone rang again he moved out of the crowd and into the shadow of an oak tree at the river promenade, eyes set on the smoking helicarriers in the water as he brought his phone up to his ear, “Speak up, darling.”  
“What was the name of that horrible coffee place in Kiev that you dragged me to? The food sucked but it had a good overview of the central plaza.”, Natasha sounded bored and not in the least hurried or out of sorts really, so Clint supposed that she had forgiven him for the Winter Soldier Budapest incident.

Which was good, because Tony's ideas on bringing him somewhere safe from the Black Widow were getting downright ridiculous.  
“Wouldn't matter, they took that place down two years ago, use the lookout platform of the mall instead.”, he answered and slowly began to walk down the promenade, making his way further towards the inner city, had some places to check before he met up with Tony again for the main event.

“Check for that. Where are you? Stark let you out of his sight yet?”, there was the sound of heels clicking on the ground, Natasha was on the move as well.   
“Naw, he's trying to not let it show how freaked out he is by all of this. Keeps asking for updates on Steve like twice every hour.”, he explained, it had been a little surprising of how much Tony was suddenly turning into a hovering clingy neurotic, “He cares and wants the team together to face the outcome of this, but he doesn't want it known.”

“How is Steve?”, Clint turned right to walk down the path that lead back to the streets and apartment buildings, the streets were almost empty now.  
“Still not awake, but Wilson says he is getting better.”, he answered and jogged across the street, too lazy to wait for the traffic light to turn green on a mostly deserted street corner.  
“He is a good guy, can be trusted.”, Natasha said and Clint whistled, that meant a lot coming from her, especially now where everything had collapsed around them. Well, almost everything, “Listen, Clint, about the Soldier...”

“No.”, he interrupted her quickly and maybe even too harsh, “I don't wanna talk about it, Tasha. Especially not now. Tony and I, we went to DC, we gonna look for the missing item by nightfall, I'm not talking about this here, especially not while I already feel like cringing every time I turn a corner.”, he knew he wasn't being watched, he would have noticed it hours ago, even from him, maybe even especially from him, “You do whatever you have to do, and I do what I need to do here, we will talk when we both see the boss again.”, she understood and they ended the call with the mirrored promise of being careful.

Clint sighed and pushed his phone into his pants again, turning another right corner and then slipping into the white apartment building, fingering the gun in his holster, they better not be home.

\--

When darkness slowly edged over DC, the Triskelion laid in silence once more, the crowd of onlookers had left, agents and military personnel had mostly left the scene and only a simple patrol was left to guard the ruins. Clint wondered if they were Hydra too as he approached Tony, who was sitting on the trunk of the limousine, parked discreetly at the side of the road, half hidden in the bushes.

“Where is Happy?”, he asked after Tony had spied him, he had changed into the simple clothes he usually wore in the suit, fiddling with the tablet again.  
“Send him to the hospital with another car, told him to find out if Wilson needed something from his place. He is stubborn, refuses to leave Steve for more than five minutes. Kinda starting to like the guy.”, Tony mumbled and then sent Clint half a smirk that the archer returned, hopping upon the trunk as well.

“Natasha says we can trust him, I think there is no better judgment we can trust right now.”, he added, grabbing the keys Tony pulled out from his pockets and then both of them slid back down to their feet.   
“Seems like that.”, Tony agreed and stepped to the side to let Clint pop the trunk open to let them have a first look at the material and gear Tony had packed them, personally, to not let anyone have an idea to what they could have been up to. Secrecy sprinkled with a whole new edge of paranoia.

“Agent Carter okay?”, Clint quickly changed the topic inside his mind to get away from the shivers running down his back, god, he hated places where so many people had died under brutal conditions. That's what you get when your teenage self was chasing ghosts in his free time, Barton, his mind provided him, especially when those ghosts become famous dead people.

“Both pretty shaken.”, Tony snapped him out of his inner monologue again, reaching for the suitcase that kept the Iron Man suit he was currently using, “I'm ordered to call Peggy the second Steve wakes up, no matter if day or night, she twisted my ear when I hesitated.”, Tony smiled in fond memory and rubbed his right ear, “I left out the part about Barnes, don't think she could have swallowed that and I think it's Steve's right to tell her. After he got to terms with it. I'm a little worried about Sharon.”, and hearing him admit to something that personal let Clint once again see just how much this had rattled Tony as well, Shield might not have been his safety line and half his life, but he had cared about a lot of people there.

He had been betrayed as well. Maybe not by close friends like Clint had, but Fury had lied to both of them. Had used Tony's technology for something that could have killed them all. And well, as much as they bickered on a normal day, Clint knew, even then, that if Tony had known the truth about what his input would be used for, he wouldn't have done it, mostly because Steve wouldn't have and had not appreciated it. Tony Stark wanted to save the world, but not by sacrificing the lives of millions.

“Was she injured?”, he wanted to know, trying to remember where Carter had worked the last time he had seen her, he knew she had been stationed in DC to be Steve's babysitter, dictated by Fury, Natasha and him had not been pleased with it. She must have been working in the Triskelion during the day, so she had been there when Insight was launched.   
“Cuts, but nothing serious. She faced down Rumlow when he tried to force the techie to launch the countdown for Project Insight. I think she has trouble sleeping, she looks tired.”, it was almost fond the way Tony spoke about the young woman.

“She's a tough girl, she's gonna be okay, she's got her family to lay low for the moment. She'll make her way.”, Clint spoke, almost from experience, Shield agents weren't thrown so easily, and even if this was the biggest wreck that could have happened to them, the true Shield agents would move on, find a new destiny, but something else was gnawing on his mind now, “Did you know Rumlow?”  
“Stories, pieces here and there from people. Steve talked a lot about him in the last months, was annoyed by the bossiness. Only met him a couple of times, briefly. You knew him better, right?”, Tony turned the question back on him and Clint grimaced, reached down to open the case for his bow, flipping it out before answering.

“Him, Rollins, all the other guys. Worked together with him, actually thought some of them were my friends.”, actually thought some of them would rather die than see my girls come to harm, he added inside his mind and then quickly shut down the walls again, don't think about it, Barton, don't, “But it's nothing new to me, being betrayed by the people you think you can trust.”, Tony clearly noticed the bitterness and pain that was laced into his voice and thankfully refrained from poking into the wound any more.

Instead they both silently geared up, Tony into the suit and Clint into the Kevlar strengthened wetsuit, because Tony Stark never did anything only half-assed.   
“I'm gonna run a quick perimeter, make sure there aren't any reporters or civilians around to stick their noses into what isn't their business.”, head piece still laying in the trunk, Tony nodded and fiddled around with his tablet again, “And Tony?”, the billionaire hummed as a sign that he had heard, Clint strapped his quiver over his back and tapped his bow against the back of Tony's head until he had his whole attention, “If I yell Winter, you're going to bail, do you hear me?”

“Why would you even for a second believe that I would leave you alone with the freaking Winter Soldier? Bucky Barnes or not, that man is dangerous.”, Tony snapped at him, grabbed the head piece and the face mask of the suit and then kicked the trunk shut, quickly leaning down to grab the bag with the rope and the special magnets they had brought.

“Okay, first of all, everyone seems to forget that I'm an assassin as well. I am dangerous, Stark.”, if he sounded heated, he could fully blame it on the whole atmosphere, goddamn place was fucked up, stupid shadow of Triskelion ruins looming over them, “Don't ever for a second underestimate me.”  
“You think I am?”, Tony shot back, “I know very damn well how dangerous you can be, but this is not just somebody. You saw what he did to Steve. We don't know what we are up against.”, the dark haired man argued and glowered in his direction where Clint had already slowly edged towards the shadows.

“I do.”, he said and then vanished into the trees, leaving Tony to frown at his back.

\--

Tony kept his mouth shut and instead slipped on the remaining pieces of the armor and opened the comm line to the frequency of the ones he had worked into Clint's hearing aids. Walking closer to the river, he let Jarvis do a quick sweep of the vicinity as well.  
“I do not sense any other presence than Agent Barton's and yours, Sir.”, Jarvis responded quickly, “Shall I proceed with continuing to scan the riverbed?”, Tony mumbled an approval, eyes too busy scanning the darkness himself.

Steve had laid here. He had laid here bleeding and almost broken. Steve was still unconscious, Steve had been alone here. 

Sighing Tony tried to shake off the dark thoughts and focused on the task at hand, he had a mission and he would see it through, and there were worse things a man could do at night than hang out with Clint Barton.   
“Do you want me to relay that message, Sir? Agent Barton seems to be on his way back.”, Jarvis offered cheekily and Tony blinked, muffling a curse over having spoken out loud again.  
“Don't you dare, J, his ego is already big enough.”, he cut back and moved back up the small riverbank again to get the oxygen tanks and the diving gear for Barton, he would be alright himself, having water proved the suit twice now, just in case. 

“Is that why the two of you share such a lively friendship, Sir?”, Jarvis questioned further and Tony tried to glare at the sensors in his mask, intending to let Jarvis see every single tooth as he snarled, “Shut up, you know-it-all and get to work.”, the hologram of the scanned river built up in front of his eyes as a response just as Clint stepped out of the trees again, looking if possible a little less paranoid, “We're good?”

“Yeah, we're good.”, Clint agreed and stepped over to where Tony had placed the oxygen tank and the remaining diving gear and got ready. They worked in silence for a little while, but before it could have ground Tony's nerves, Clint was speaking again, wading into the cold water without a single twitch, “You wanna stare at my ass all night, Stark or are you coming along?”, oh so, that's how it was going to be like.

“You don't have what it takes to garner my attention, Hawkeye.”, he quipped back easily and fired up the respulsors to hover over the water.  
“Oh, what's that.”, Clint continued, grinning and pulling on the goggles, “Breasts? Or my ass covered in the American flag?”, a well aimed repulsor blast later, Clint was drenched and hastily swimming away from where Tony had playfully made a grab for him. The nerves he had. 

“Hey, Stark!”, Clint called over to him, swimming at the surface still, one hand holding the mouth piece of the oxygen tank, “Can you put some music on the comms?”, grinning behind the mask, Tony had the sudden thought that annoying as he could be, Barton, yeah he could hang around for a while longer. Might even actually call you friend, Merida.  
“Consider it done.”, he said, “Jarvis, hit it.”, and then he plunged under water to the marvelous sound of ACDC. 

\--

It took them hours, hours of shifting through wreckage and mud and rocks in the almost black river as the night around them slowly shifted into early dawn. And Tony was so close to just grab Barton and drag him back to the car to let the man take a break, “For fuck's sake, Barton, it's been only three days since I scraped you off the dirty desert ground, take a break. If something happens to you now, there is no place on earth where Romanov won't find me.”, but as expected, his harsh words were completely ignored as he saw Clint disappear behind what looked like the flattened wings of a Quinjet.

Grumbling to himself, Tony pushed deeper as well, just as Clint let out a muffled whoop, “I found it.”, he spoke around the oxygen mask and Tony hurried to get to his side, but then he saw it as well. Finally. Freaking fucking finally. 

“Seems stuck.”, Clint offered, reaching for the edges that poked out between two squished Quinjets and pulled hard, but nothing moved at all. Behind the goggles, blue eyes turned to look up at the Iron Man suit that hovered over him, the blue light of the arc reactor illuminating their dark surroundings, throwing eerie shadows.  
“Let me on it and get to land.”, Tony cut out and this time Clint actually followed his words, diving back up to the surface while Tony fired the repulsors to get closer to the stuck shield, “Hey, there, you bastard, enough bathing time, let's get you out of here. Jarvis, let's cut it loose.”

“Do you want me to insure minimal damage to the surrounding Quinjets, Sir?”, came the question that had Tony roll his eyes until it hurt, if even 5% more of the population would be as considerate and polite as this AI, soldiers would be hunting for jobs elsewhere already, “Fuck the jets, J, get me the shield.”

Said and done, and two minutes later, Tony broke to the surface of the early Washington morning again, slowly and quietly to not bring any attention to them, he then flew over to the riverside where they had parked the car and where a bedraggled looking Hawkeye was just crawling out of the water. Tony chuckled, swallowed down the comment over birds and water though and instead landed in the shallow water, taking off the mask and head piece of the suit and throwing them over to Barton, who still caught them easily.

As Clint collapsed heavily onto the grass then and laid there like a fish on dry land, panting, eyes closed and loose limbs, Tony only spared him a quick glance before he took off the gauntlets and dipped the shield back into the less muddy water, suit still standing knee deep in the river. When the shield was clean, he stomped back onto the riverside and ordered Jarvis to dissemble the suit, before dropping the shield the ground by Clint's head and sitting down next to him, flopping down on his back after a brief moment of hesitation.

God, what had his life become.

\--

They actually fell asleep for three hours.

\--

“Sir, Doctor Banner is calling.”, Jarvis spoke up just as Tony finally felt the drowsiness ease up slowly, but then he was awake again with a jolt of all his nerves, Clint jerking upright at his side as well, immediate full alert again.   
“Put him through, put him through...Bruce, did something happen?”, totally ignoring how Clint raised both eyebrows at his frantic tone, Tony played all attention towards Bruce's voice.  
“Steve woke up, about an hour ago. Wilson called just now, said he is stable and remembers what happened. He is asking about the team.”, Bruce provided, sounding relieved and calmer, “I sent word to Natasha already. And Jane Foster, in case Thor comes back. Have you two found the shield?”

Clint flopped back onto the ground and tapped a gloved hand upon the shield, letting the metallic sound speak for itself. Chuckling, Bruce continued, “Tony, you should swing by the hospital, get the shield to him. It would surely calm him to see another familiar face. And Clint, Hill's been trying to reach you, she's been asking for help in searching for Shield agents.”  
“Will do, Banner, thanks.”, Clint offered as he saw how deep in thought Tony was, Jarvis ended the call and swept them back into the silence of this early morning, “You don't have to go, Tony. I can swing by the hospital on my way to...”

“No.”, Tony stopped him short, already swinging himself to his feet, “I'll bring the shield to him and then rat him out for at least two hours for not calling for my help.”, they got back to their feet and walked back to the car, Tony holding the shield maybe a little tighter than he needed, Clint didn't saw any need to comment on it.

They changed back into the clothes they had come in and then loaded the gear into the car again, except for the bow that Clint tugged over his shoulder again with the quiver. Tony spoke after slipping his phone back into his pants after having called Happy to get back.  
“You can take the Audi, when Happy comes. We'll take the limo to the hospital, might be less suspicious for you that way.”, Clint nodded in thanks to Tony's offer, he could need a car, “And Barton? If you need a place to stay, you know you're welcome at the tower.”

“I know, wasn't planning on going anywhere else to be honest.”, it was true, he longed for Laura and for the kids and home, but he wouldn't find rest there until he could be sure that there was nothing where he was needed to save lives. Shield was no more, and the remains of what was once half of his life was a mess now, and he owed it to Coulson most of all to stick around. Phil would have done the same, he told himself as a sleek black Audi Coupé stopped on the side of the street behind the white limousine, revealing Happy smiling and not as tired as Clint would have expected him.

“Well then, see you in New York, Katniss.”, Clint let Tony pat his shoulder and then watched how the other man dropped into the back of his car, tired, exhausted and so relieved, still clutching the shield like an anker.  
“See you in New York, Stark and tell Cap hi.”, Tony waved and grunted something, but it got lost when he slammed the door shut, Clint snickered, he just hoped Wilson was around for that reunion and wasn't past a little gossip the first time he met him.

“Keys for you?”, Happy asked when he came closer and Clint held out a hand, catching the thrown car keys easily, calling a quick thanks over his shoulder before jogging towards the car. Let's get to business, Barton, Hill first and then Laura again, let's get this clean up on the road.

\--

“Room for one more?”, Tony called out softly and waited behind the half opened door, a blanket from the car wrapped hastily around the shield in his left hand, until both men in the room turned to look at him. And Jesus, did it take a lot of self control to not openly flinch, Steve looked terrible, banged up and beaten up and actually really injured, he hadn't even looked like this after New York.

It made the guilt in his gut only worse.

“Tony.”, Steve called out nevertheless, a smile curving his lips upwards again, “I'm glad that you're okay.”, and yeah, he should have probably expected that to come, but still, Tony raised his eyebrows as he moved into the room and shut the door again.  
“Me? You're glad I'm okay? I'm not the one in the freaking hospital, Rogers.”, he snapped with way less heat than usual, and Steve noticed, blue eyes followed his every step to the side of the soldier's bed that wasn't unoccupied by the dark skinned openly gaping man. Must be Wilson then.

“No nickname? Jeez, I'm in trouble.”, Steve actually snickered and Tony raised both eyebrows at him before switching his gaze over to dark eyes. Sam Wilson jumped to his feet and almost saluted, having Tony blink and Steve snickering louder.  
“They shot him full of morphine when he tried to stand up and wouldn't listen.”, quick glare down at Steve who had the nerve to look sheepish, “It's a real honor to meet you, Sir. I'm a real fan of what you are doing.”, Sam was rushing through his words and then stumbled over the rolls of the heart monitor as he tried to shake Tony's offered hand over the bed, face-planting into Steve's feet.

A moment of silence reigned as Sam scrambled to his feet again, standing upright and looking cool in no time, Tony did in fact absolutely like the guy, calmly waiting until he grabbed his hand for a strong handshake then.  
“The honor is all mine. I'm glad someone was around to have Cap's back.”, and as their hands parted, Tony turned to hover over Steve, setting the still covered shield down on his thighs and gently poking the blond in the chest, “And we will have a very long talk about asking one's team for help, when your organization turns out to be Hydra, Capsicle.”, Steve simply grinned back at him, “God, how loopy are you?”, Tony muttered and glanced over to Wilson again, but the man still staring at him with wide eyes.

“Is this for me?”, Steve asked and his clumsy fingers fumbled with the blanket, Tony wondered internally if he could find out just what kind and in what dosage they had pumped Stevie-boy full of morphine, the result was clearly most adorable and hilarious.  
“Yeah, a present from Barton and me. He says hi by the way.”, Tony chuckled and then grabbed a chair to sit down, “Hey, Wilson, you mind giving us a moment?”, he directed towards Wilson, who was clearly trying to shake himself out of his frozen stupor.  
“No, of course not. Want me to bring some coffee back?”, came the easy question, as if Tony had been around for the whole mess right from the start, “Steve said you drink a lot of it.”

“Oh did he now?”, Tony snarked and glowered down at a brightly grinning Steve, “Isn't that interesting? But yes, I would love a coffee. Thank you, Mister Wilson.”  
“Sam, it's just Sam.”, came the quick reply and Tony sent a smirk towards the equally smiling man.  
“Then it's just Tony as well. Welcome to the rag tag team, Birdie.”, Sam nodded and then left the room, Tony caught some quiet mumblings of “Tony Stark just called me Birdie” before the door closed and shook his head again.

“You always find the most interesting people, Cap. Come on, pull that blanket back, we'll both feel better when you have that back in your hands.”, Steve ripped the blanket off, way less graceful than it would have been on a normal day, but Tony didn't care, the simple look of relief and gratitude in blue eyes was enough to have him forget everything else.

Shield was freaking Hydra, thousands of lives were a complete mess now, Bucky Barnes was alive and running around with a wiped mind and a lethal skill set, but Steve was alive and he was okay. Barton and Romanoff were doing okay, and knew where to come home to now. Bruce was fine and safe inside the tower. Pepper was alright and already drowning his emails with propositions to get the loyal Shield agents into Stark Industries to give them a new future.

Project Insight had been stopped, as much as they knew Hydra believed both legendary soldiers to be dead. They could do this, he would find a way to take them down, would find a way to stop them from ever setting a foot down in this world again.

“Are you okay, Tony?”, Steve's voice pulled him out of his thoughts and Tony turned back to him with a smile, noting how Steve's fingers danced over the surface of the shield.  
“Yeah, I'm okay. We're both okay. Hydra won't know what's coming for them!”, Steve's grip was already tight again as they clasped hands over the white star, and Tony found it symbolic almost.

And wasn't it? A promise given between two superheroes on the shield that had been found, because it had been the one that hadn't been meant to go down.

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback as always more than just welcome.


End file.
